Show D digest 0 9 national topics S f interpreted n e e e by billit LP BRUCKART irv lbs jofs IP 4 washington some years ago when new En glands sharp tongued george H moses 1 like sat in the old times ing officers chair as president pro tempore of the senate I 1 used to marvel at the speed with which he got rid of legislation the republicans were in control of the senate the late senator charles curtis of kansas was the republican leader between the astute curtis and the nimble witted moses the senate many times really ran in high gear to me it was reminiscent of the old days therefore when I 1 watched vice president jack garner operate in the senate the other day to get the judiciary reform bill through that body without permitting a deluge of debate I 1 think mr garner performed on that occasion with even greater finesse than did senator moses because mr garner did not wait for cues from the floor of the senate he simply took charge and knowing what the job was saw to it that things were accomplished in record time but the significance of this incident should not be overlooked it iwas was noteworthy of course that the senate should pass the court bill and send it to the house in a total of six six hours it was noteworthy that the vice president established a precedent by granting permission to senators to include in the congressional record speeches they would have made if the debate had been prolonged and yet it was the implication of the senate action that seems to me to be the most important phase of that situation the way I 1 see the picture is this the ease with which that bill was put through demonstrates that those who opposed the original bill to add six new justices to the supreme court were objecting only to the court packing and not to the reforms in procedure the bill as it becomes law provides for a number of changes in court procedure to the end that adjudication of controversy can be accomplished complis hed much more quickly than has been the case in the past it does not include any addition to the of the supreme court a and n d it does not include any provision sion for sending handpicked hand picked judges cinto into the various circuits and districts as the white house and the department of justice may decide in other words the new law leaves the judiciary system independent and again esta establishes bUshes it as a coordinate branch of the government equal in all respects to the legislative which is congress and the executive which is the president and the executive departments there can be no doubt that this piece of legislation is worthwhile although to the layman the benefits may not immediately appear it must be regarded however simply as a piece of legislation that cuts much legal red tape and those who must avail themselves of the courts or those who are forced under jurisdiction of courts will come more nearly obtaining justice than heretofore I 1 have said in these columns before that when the senate refused to accept the presidents orders and pass legislation that would permit him to appoint six new justices to the supreme court at one time the president suffered one of the worst political defeats he has ever encountered countered lie he probably will never meet imset with another such disastrous setback it was obvious to the vast majority of senators and representatives and to observers here within six weeks after mr roosevelt submitted the court packing bill that he could not force it through he refused nevertheless to admit defeat in consequence it took nearly six months of bitter and futile wrangling in the senate to convince the president that he was on the wrong side of the question as far as public sentiment was concerned so congress has wasted nearly all of the 1937 session on a proposition for which it was not responsible it may be said that congress st should remain in session under those cir circumstances curn stances and give all of the time that is necessary to deliberation of measures before it yet f facts acts must be faced one of these f facts acts is that through all of the months prior to adjournment scores of members were wearing themselves down fighting against a proposition with which they could not agree in the meantime ons summer settled down ing tons summer is a completely hot and humid summer most of the members of the senate and house are no longer boys of college age they cannot withstand the physical rigors of heavy work under weather conditions that prevail in a washington nato 1 l summer thus it is not strange and at all that as july passed august wore on most of the members wanted to go t to 0 places more comfortable than the capital city and that tha t constituted a terrific urge to get rid of whatever legisla uon was before them with the very minimum minimum of effort inconsequence in consequence 1 there has been some very bad legis lation and congress is now wholly to blame for it A friend of mine a well known doctor who is not a politician k aws n 0 w s nothing new yorks ork about fight man in short who minds m i n d s his f own business and tries trie to do the best job of which he Is C capable E asked me a question the other day that precipitated this discussion lie he i asked me why the newspapers throughout the country were giving so much space front page space ce at that to the political fight over ever them the democratic nomination for mayor i in new york my doctor friend observed that which is true namely that the may or of new york is only mayor of that city and has no jurisdiction or r power anywhere else he observed ved as well that new york city is sim ply a subdivision of the state of r new york and that new york state is only one state out of forty eight in our nation further he suggested that he and he believed mil lions of others could not possibly possible y have any interest in whether f tammany or the new deal faction of democrats in new york city should win the nomination and their mayoralty candidate superficially the doctor was right his thoughts however do not touch the root of that situation ir fundamentally the battle between y tammany and the democrats in f new york is a battle between the old line conservative democrats throughout the nation and the new deal faction of the party which is headed by president roosevelt it L is vitally important also to the re 3 publicans public ans for the reason that the I 1 presidential election of 1940 is al alj most certain to be a campaign injo in which we will find conservatives from whatever party aligned on one hand and radicals from whatever party aligned on the other side to that extent the new york primary and mayoralty election is the beginning of the 1940 presidential campaign jj the biU that is going to pre vail from here on has been given something of a preview by the charge by senator copeland the tammany candidate that president roosevelt was interfering inter ferine in a pure ly local fight senator collands Copeland Cop lands st activities in the senate have been almost wholly antagonistic to the president and the new deal generally where the president has been sound as the conservatives recognize sound policies senator cope land has fought alongside of the new dealers otherwise he has not concealed his opposition to rad ical new deal proposals thus when senator copeland broke openly and accused the president of stooping to local politics he opened the way for conserva 1 tives lives everywhere to strike back aa at the political machine managed by postmaster general jim parley farley in mr Roosevel ts behalf As one house member suggested Sen senator copeland has put fire into the fight the selection of senator copeland by the famous tammany o tion in new york city was the sig I 1 nal for the new deal faction of the great city to take off their coats they promptly announced selection i of new york supreme court justice i k mahoney as their candidate against copeland there are four burrough burroughs burro j organizations behind mahoney j there is only the tammany group t behind copeland on the face ol of e it it would seem that the senator 0 cannot win the fact seems to be 1 however that there will be a rather close race for the reason that sam some of the four organizations behind ma honey may not be able to control the democratic vo votes tes in their baili wicks as entirely as tamm tammany any hall will control democrats so long af ciliated filia ted with that organization according to the best advices advises I 1 can get the copeland charge against mr roosevelt is likely to swing a good many democrats to the copeland ticket this will be so because new york city alwa always ys has resented outside influences in its political battles senator copela copeland and can be counted upon as well to broaden the charge so that mr far leys tentacles in new york city politics where he has long been active tive will be made to a appear alike the strangling crushing arms 0 of f an octopus oca in other words I 1 the consert conserve atiles who are supporting Co copeland poland will not let the charge of interference by the president become of time it is re less consequence any told f true secretary marvin mci entyre 1 of the white house staff denied that thata the president had talked politics ji with the mahoney leaders bu but tha denial was not accepted by cops land as being sincere for he ad added i 1 I am not afraid of mr roose J volts reprisals the president dent en it joys a great personal popularity but his poh political popularity larit y is swiftly dis appearing 1 0 western newspaper union |